Redundant flexible datacenter workload scheduling
Systems include one or more critical datacenter connected to behind-the-meter flexible datacenters. The critical datacenter is powered by grid power and not necessarily collocated with the flexible datacenters, which are powered “behind the meter.” When a computational operation to be performed at the critical datacenter is identified and determined that it can be performed more efficiently or advantageously at a flexible datacenter, the computational operation is instead obtained by the flexible datacenters for performance. The critical datacenter and flexible datacenters preferably share a dedicated communication pathway to enable high-bandwidth, low-latency, secure data transmissions. In some situations, a computational operation is supported by multiple datacenters in a redundant arrangement, such as multiple flexible datacenters.
1. A system for controlling the use of behind-the-meter electrical power produced by a power generation system comprising:
a set of flexible datacenters, wherein each flexible datacenter comprises:
a behind-the-meter (BTM) power input system configured to receive power from a power generation system prior to the power undergoing step-up transformation for transmission to a grid and provide the received power to the set of flexible datacenters instead of sending the received power to the grid; and
a computing system powered by the BTM power input system; and
a control system configured to:
identify a computational operation to be performed
determine an amount of BTM power that is available to the computing system;
determine whether to assign performance of the computational operation to at least two flexible datacenters in the set of flexible datacenters based at least in part on the determination of the amount of BTM power that is available; and
based on determining to assign performance of the computational operation to at least two flexible datacenters, assign a first portion of the computational operation to a first flexible datacenter of the set of flexible datacenters and a second portion of the computational operation to a second flexible datacenter of the set of flexible datacenters.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control system is positioned at a remote location from the set of flexible datacenters.
3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the control system is configured to modulate power delivery to a first computing system at the first flexible datacenter and a second computing system at the second flexible datacenter based on one or more monitored power system conditions.
4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the monitored power system conditions comprises: one or more of excess local power generation at a local station level, excess local power generation that the grid cannot receive, local power generation subject to economic curtailment, local power generation subject to reliability curtailment, local power generation subject to power factor correction, low local power generation, start up local power generation situations, transient local power generation situations, or testing local power generation situations where there is an economic advantage to using local behind-the-meter power generation.
5. The system of claim 2 , wherein the control system is configured to modulate power delivery to a first computing system at the first flexible datacenter and a second computing system at the second flexible datacenter based on an operational directive.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein a first BTM power input system of the first flexible datacenter and a second BTM power input system of the second flexible datacenter are coupled to a particular power generation system.
7. The system of claim 1 , wherein a first BTM power input system of the first flexible datacenter is coupled to a first power generation system, and wherein a second BTM power input system of the second flexible datacenter is coupled to a second power generation system.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first portion of the computational operation and the second portion of the computational operation overlap.
9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the first portion of the computational operation corresponds to an entirety of the computational operation, and wherein the second portion of the computational operation corresponds to at least a portion of the entirety of the computational operation.
10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the second portion of the computational operation further corresponds to the entirety of the computational operation.
11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control system is further configured to: identify the first flexible datacenter and the second flexible datacenter based on availability of BTM power at the first flexible datacenter and the second flexible datacenter.
12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control system is further configured to: assign the first portion of the computational operation to the first flexible datacenter and the second portion of the computational operation to the second flexible datacenter such that a first computing system at the first flexible datacenter initiates performance of the first portion of the computational operation at a particular time when a second computing system at the second flexible datacenter initiates performance of the second portion of the computational operation.
13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control system is further configured to: assign the first portion of the computational operation to the first flexible datacenter and the second portion of the computational operation to the second flexible datacenter such that a first computing system at the first flexible datacenter initiates performance of the first portion of the computational operation at a particular time when a second computing system at the second flexible datacenter has completed performance of the second portion of the computational operation.
14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the control system is further configured to: receive an indication of completed performance of the second portion of the computational operation from the second flexible datacenter; and responsive to the indication, provide instructions to the first computing system at the flexible datacenter to initiate performance of the first portion of the computational operation.
15. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first portion of the computational operation and the second portion of the computational operation do not overlap.
16. A method for controlling the use of behind-the-meter electrical power produced by a power generation system comprising:
identifying, by a computing system, a computational operation for performance;
determining, by the computing system, whether to assign performance of the computational operation to at least two flexible datacenters of a set of flexible datacenters,
wherein each flexible datacenter comprises:
a behind-the-meter (BTM) power input system configured to receive power from a power generation system prior to the power undergoing step-up transformation for transmission to a grid and provide the received power to the set of flexible datacenters instead of sending the received power to the grid; and
a particular computing system powered by the BTM power input system;
and providing a control system configured to:
receive the identified computational operation to be performed;
determine an amount of BTM power that is available to the computing system within the at least two flexible datacenters;
wherein the step of determining whether to assign performance of the computational operation to at least two flexible datacenters in the set of flexible datacenters is based at least in part on the determination of the amount of BTM power that is available; and
based on determining to assign performance of the computational operation to the at least two flexible datacenters, assigning a first portion of the computational operation to a first flexible datacenter of the at least two flexible datacenters and a second portion of the computational operation to a second flexible datacenter of the at least two flexible datacenters.
17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising: identifying the first flexible datacenter and the second flexible datacenter based on the determined amount of BTM power that is available to the computing system.
18. The method of claim 16 , wherein assigning the first portion of the computational operation to the first flexible datacenter and the second portion of the computational operation to the second flexible datacenter comprises: assigning the first portion of the computational operation to the first flexible datacenter and the second portion of the computational operation to the second flexible datacenter such that a first computing system at the first flexible datacenter initiates performance of the first portion of the computational operation at a particular time when a second computing system at the second flexible datacenter initiates performance of the second portion of the computational operation.
19. The method of claim 16 , wherein assigning the first portion of the computational operation to the first flexible datacenter and the second portion of the computational operation to the second flexible datacenter comprises: assigning the first portion of the computational operation to the first flexible datacenter and the second portion of the computational operation to the second flexible datacenter such that a first computing system at the first flexible datacenter initiates performance of the first portion of the computational operation at a particular time when a second computing system at the second flexible datacenter has completed performance of the second portion of the computational operation.
20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium configured to store instructions, that when executed by a computing system, causes the computing system to perform functions comprising:
identifying a computational operation for performance;
determining whether to assign performance of the computational operation to at least two flexible datacenters of a set of flexible datacenters,
wherein each flexible datacenter comprises:
a behind-the-meter (BTM) power input system configured to receive power from a power generation system prior to the power undergoing step-up transformation for transmission to a grid and provide the received power to the set of flexible datacenters instead of sending the received power to the grid; and
a particular computing system powered by the BTM power input system;
and providing a control system configured to:
receive the identified computational operation to be performed;
determine an amount of BTM power that is available to the computing system within the at least two flexible datacenters;
wherein the step of determining whether to assign performance of the computational operation to at least two flexible datacenters in the set of flexible datacenters based at least in part on the determination of the amount of BTM power that is available; and
based on determining to assign performance of the computational operation to the at least two flexible datacenters, assigning a first portion of the computational operation to a first flexible datacenter of the at least two flexible datacenters and a second portion of the computational operation to a second flexible datacenter of the at least two flexible datacenters.